| Summary: | <i>Huperzia serrata</i> is a traditional herb and endangered Chinese medicinal material, which has attracted much attention due to its production of Huperzine A (HupA). In vitro propagation of <i>H. serrata</i> is considered a new way to relieve the resource pressure of <i>H. serrata</i>. In this study, three different genotypic wild <i>H. serrata</i> were used for in vitro propagation. Then, the antioxidant activity and the content of HupA in the regenerated <i>H. serrata</i> were investigated. The results showed the survival rate of the explant was increased to 25.37% when using multiple sterilization processes. The best induction medium for <i>H. serrata</i> was the Schenk and Hildebrandt (SH) medium supplemented with 0.5 mg·L<sup>−1</sup> Naphthalene acetic acid (NAA) and 0.1 mg·L<sup>−1</sup> 2,4-Dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D), where the regeneration rate of the explant was to 57.04%. The best proliferation medium was the SH medium with NAA (1.0 mg·L<sup>−1</sup>), as the biomass of in vitro tissue increased 164.17 ± 0.41 times. High-performance liquid chromatography analysis showed that the in vitro culture of three genotypes could produce HupA and the content of HupA was 53.90–87.17 µg·g<sup>−1</sup>. The antioxidant experiment showed that the methanol extract of in vitro <i>H. serrata</i> had higher antioxidant activity than that of wild <i>H. serrata</i>. This study provides a reliable in vitro <i>H. serrata</i> culture protocol and laid an important foundation for the antioxidant capacity of the thallus and the content of HupA.
|
|---|